"Without my leadership in the U.S. Senate, Yucca Mountain will get the green light. While the U.S. House of Representatives has repeatedly approved funding to revive Yucca Mountain, I have consistently stonewalled their action by working with the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, and Senate leadership to make sure that not a single dollar goes toward funding the failed project,” said Heller. “Yucca Mountain is not the solution. A state without a single nuclear power plant should not have to shoulder the entire nation’s nuclear waste burden. Instead of pursing a failed project that has already cost taxpayers billions of dollars, the Administration should pursue the only sustainable path forward: a consent-based approach. I will not let Nevada be overrun by states that want to move the nuclear waste they created out of their backyards and into ours.”

In addition to keeping funding for Yucca Mountain out of the final report, the Energy and Water, Legislative Branch, and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs conference agreement includes provisions designed to support Nevada’s veterans and increase accountability at the VA. It also funds four Nevada military construction projects at Creech Air Force Base, Nellis Air Force Base, and the National Guard Readiness Center in North Las Vegas, and it includes a Heller provision to strengthen Nevada’s water supply and security.

A senior member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, Heller has worked to see that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) effectively operates the VA Caregiver Program, which provides a stipend to family members of severely disabled veterans who provide in-home care to the veteran. Heller’s amendment included in the appropriations package would ensure that the VA Caregiver Program has the staffing necessary in Reno, Las Vegas, and across the country to provide the attention and support these veterans and their caregivers deserve. Earlier this year, Heller and U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) contacted Acting VA Secretary Robert Wilkie urging a retrospective review of the eligibility determinations of caregivers who were discharged from the program. The letter is available HERE. The Senate-passed conference agreement also includes an amendment that Heller filed with U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Ranking Member Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) to prohibit the VA from transferring any funds out of the VA’s homeless veteran programs. Heller has repeatedly fought back against the VA’s repurposing of funds from VA programs designed to assist homeless veterans. In a December 2017 letter to former VA Secretary David Shulkin, Heller doubled down on his opposition and urged Shulkin to stop the VA’s proposal to redirect funding intended to help the homeless veteran population. The letter is available HERE. In April of 2018, he requested that the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies provide robust funding to the Supporting Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) Program, the Grant and Per Diem (GDP) Program, and case management and supportive services as administered by the VA because these programs are central to federal efforts to end veteran homelessness. The letter is available HERE.

“I was proud to see the U.S. Senate pass my provisions to support Nevada’s veterans and protect Nevada’s water security. It is a great privilege to be a voice for Nevada’s veterans as a senior member of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, which is why I worked to ensure that my provisions provide additional transparency to programs that our veterans rely on. I am also glad to see authorization of military construction projects at Creech and Nellis Air Force Bases, as well as the National Guard Readiness Center in North Las Vegas,” said Heller. “Furthermore, the reauthorization of the conservation project of the Colorado River System is fundamental to our water supply in southern Nevada and will go a long way toward protecting the Colorado River Basin.”

On March 21, 2018, during a U.S. Senate Banking Committee hearing with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Mick Mulvaney, U.S. Senator Dean Heller (R-NV) highlighted the Administration’s reckless and fiscally irresponsible pursuit of Yucca Mountain, stating that the federal government has already wasted billions of dollars on the project. When asked about alternative solutions to the country’s nuclear waste problem, Director Mulvaney told Heller that he is open-minded to other resolutions and suggested they work together to find one.

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